


Something Blue, Something Red, Something Warm, Something No Longer Left Unsaid

by F-117 Nighthawk (F117_Nighthawk)



Series: Dark Matter [11]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Dance Metaphors, Dancing, Ferris Wheels, Festivals, Fluff, Galra Keith (Voltron), Getting Together, Keith and Shiro are Adoptive Siblings, M/M, Mutual Pining, RIP Coran hes stuck fixing the castle again, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, You Have Been Warned, aliens that venerate dancing, also has fanart because Im a dweeb, but then, seriously, that I probably took to far but whatever
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-09
Updated: 2017-09-13
Packaged: 2018-12-17 19:52:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,692
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11858535
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/F117_Nighthawk/pseuds/F-117%20Nighthawk
Summary: After driving the Galran Empire out of a sector of space, Team Voltron is invited to the Dorrolan Winter Festival. The festival is eerily similar to an Earth carnival, complete with games, a petting zoo, and a Ferris Wheel.Lance drags Keith around for a while. Fluff ensues.





	1. Baby Not-Hippos

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to the cheesiest thing I have and probably ever will write. This is the biggest cheese ball ever, an absolute bucket of sap, fluffier than a thousand sheep made of clouds. 
> 
> ......and I wrote it all because of the "Keith loves hippos" thing.

Lance was, for lack of a better word, excited. The latest planet they had saved from the iron fist of the Galra Empire had invited them to stay for their planet’s Winter Festival and Allura had miraculously agreed. There was a carnival, which from what he had heard was very much like an Earth carnival, and that night there was a formal dance for the upper echelons of the government, which the Paladins had been cordially invited to. They had a day of relaxation and fun ahead of them, which they hadn’t had for several weeks and which Lance thought was surely needed.

Keith had other opinions, and wanted to keep after the remnants of the fleet they’d been chasing out of this star cluster for the better part of a month. 

“Keeeeeeiiithhhh,” Lance drew out his name with a plea, puppy eyes and all, “We’ve done nothing but fight and train for a month. Don’t you think we need a break? Come on, I’ll take you to the carnival and win you something.”

Keith was ridiculously weak to Lance. Damn his stupid crush. When he sighed out a “fine,” he felt Shiro’s eyes on the back of his head. Turning slightly he saw his brother smirking at him. To anyone else Shiro’s face hadn’t moved, but Keith could see the raised eyebrow and quirked lips. Why he had ever confided in him Keith had no idea. 

So that was how Keith had ended up down on Dorrolan sans armor and bayard, plus dark red (and very warm) parka, being dragged around by the rest of the team. “Alright, Paladins, the Dorrolan High Priestess has given us these bands, which will allow us free rein of the Festival,” Allura told them, passing out bright green bracelets. Keith slipped his onto his right hand as Allura continued: “The only rule I have is that you all keep your comms on so that we are on time for the party later tonight. Other than that, you can do what you want! I hear they have what you call a ‘petting zoo’ here, full of babies of this planet’s animals.”

“Ooo! Petting zoo! Come on, Keith, we’re gonna go find some baby animals!” Lance said, ignoring whatever else Allura was about to say as he grabbed Keith’s hand and dragged them off in a random direction.

Keith rolled his eyes but acquiesced, running along behind Lance with a soft smile on his face. “Lance, do you even have any idea where the petting zoo is? There’s gotta be a map or something of the festival grounds.”

“Of course I do! It’s uhhh......” Lance paused and looked around.

Keith smiled and tugged Lance’s hand, turning him to face where he was pointing. A blue and white temporary fence could just barely be seen in the distance. “I’ll race you over there.”

“You’re on, Mullet!” Lance yelled over his shoulder as he sped off in the direction of the petting zoo. Laughing, Keith dashed after him. 

They arrived at the petting zoo, breathless and laughing, at about the same time. Keith rested his hands on his knees and gasped for air. The petting zoo had been a bit further away than they had thought; they ended up running across almost the entire festival. Lance stood next to him leaning back with his hands on his head, taking deep gasping breaths. 

“Draw?” Lance managed to ask. Keith nodded, seemingly unable to form words. Lance looked at him, slightly concerned, “You okay, man?” Keith simply nodded again, gulping in air. Lance wasn’t convinced, but there wasn’t exactly anything he could do to help. The cold air of the planet was making his lungs burn, he couldn’t imagine what it was like for Keith’s desert-adapted physiology.

“Hello, Paladins!” came a voice from behind Lance. He turned around to see one of the Dorrolans, short even for their species, wearing the green and blue cap and sash that meant they were one of the people working at the festival. They were smiling at the two and holding some sort of big slug in their four arms. “Have you come to see the baby animals?”

Lance grinned. “Yep! What are you holding there?”

“This is an adlasse! They’re herbivores that we tend to keep as pets. Here, you can hold it, its name is Ven.” The Dorrolan held out the slug to Lance, who eagerly took it. Keith finally straightened and stepped up next to him, peering curiously at the animal. 

“Does it secrete slime like slugs do on Earth?”

Lance paused in his cooing at the thing. “I mean, I don’t feel anything on my arms but on the other hand I’m wearing a giant parka so....”

“Come on in, Paladins, we have many baby animals in here!”

Lance followed the Dorrolan, still cooing at the slug, and Keith followed them both. Lance stopped in awe in the middle; there must have been thirty different species, all in huge pens with two or three of the animals in them. There were ones that looked like cats, cows, he swore he saw an elephant, and many that didn’t look at all like Earth animals. “Whoa.” Lance spun in a slow circle til he spotted where the baby adlasse went and stepped over to put Ven back in its pen. Straightening, he scanned the fenced in area looking for Keith, who he  _ thought _ had been behind him but apparently wasn’t. “Keith? Keeeeiiiiiith!”

The Dorrolan in charge pointed to Lance’s right. “Your Red Paladin went over there. I believe he spotted an animal he was curious about.”

Lance nodded his thanks and wandered in the direction they had pointed. He passed by the enclosure for the cow-like animals, moo-ing at them as he passed. The not-cows were unimpressed and baa-ed back at him. Lance froze in place for a moment and looked at the not-cows. “That is not what I expected,” he muttered to himself, then continued walking. He passed by an enclosure of what seemed to be penguins before he finally found Keith. 

The Red Paladin was sitting in one of the enclosures with his back to the path. That little fact told Lance that Keith must have found something really interesting; he never put his back to an exit if he could help it. He heard Keith laughing and sped up his pace. He arrived at the pen Keith was in and looked around for the entrance. A Dorrolan waved to him from a few feet away, gesturing for him to come over. Lance jogged over and stepped into the pen.

“Hello, Paladin, come to join your Red companion in playing with the eiyax?”

Lance smiled and nodded at her and slipped past, beelining for Keith. What he saw was, to say the least, not what he was expecting. Keith was laughing as what looked like a baby hippo licked his cheek, sitting on his lap with its front feet balanced on his chest. There was another one whose head he was stroking cuddled up to his side and nuzzling his leg. It was, quite possibly, the cutest thing Lance had ever witnessed. Never had he seen Keith so carefree, so deliriously happy. He swallowed a very embarrassing noise that was  _ most certainly not _ a fan-girl squeal, but couldn’t resist taking his comm out of his pocket and taking a picture. He sent it to Hunk with the caption “my heart” and slipped his comm back in his jacket. 

[](https://www.flickr.com/photos/154019776@N08/36620192181/in/dateposted-public/)

The not-hippo on Keith’s chest pushed him backwards and Keith flopped on the ground, still grinning at the little guy. The other one climbed onto his arm and they both started nosing his cheeks. Lance walked over slowly, not wanting to break the little bubble Keith seemed to be in. It was rare that Keith showed such unabashed joy, content wrapped up in a parka and covered in baby hippos, and Lance didn’t want to interrupt that. He hovered nearby, smiling at the other Paladin.

Keith finally noticed Lance standing there and called “Lance! I found baby hippos!  _ Baby hippos!” _

Lance chuckled at Keith’s enthusiasm and walked the rest of the way over. “I see that. Aren’t they heavy? They’re sitting on you.” Lance sat down next to him and listened as Keith rambled on about the baby not-hippos.

“A little,” Keith admitted, “The caretaker said they were a couple months old, but their mom had abandoned them for some reason so the zoo is taking care of them. This one,” he poked the one on his arm, “is named Folvrek and this one,” he nudged the one on his chest, “is Yvoon. Apparently the eiyax are kinda like a cross between hippos and polar bears back on Earth. They’re covered in blubber to keep them warm when they go in the oceans which is part of what makes them so heavy and chubby.” Keith paused to grip Yvoon and coo at it, honest to goodness  _ giggling _ when it licked him again. Lance wasn’t quite sure if his heart could take any more of this. “They don’t have very well developed eyes so they use their nose and tongue for navigation while on land, but while they’re underwater their eyes work just fine. They also are easily domesticated and  _ love _ the Dorrolans, but they get huge when they’re older so they’re not the best to keep as pets.”

Keith looked up at Lance and Lance melted. Keith’s eyes were wide with joy, smile bright on his face showing off his teeth, covered in spit from the not-hippos, cheeks red with cold and happiness and the rough tongues of the not-hippos. He really, really,  _ really, _ wanted to kiss Keith right now.

(He admitted to himself later that likely the only reason he didn’t lean over right then was the fact that Keith really was absolutely  _ covered _ in the not-hippos spit.)

They stayed in the petting zoo for a while, occasionally looking at one of the other animals, but always drifting back to the not-hippos. Eventually Pidge showed up and dragged them out of the enclosure, yelling that she and Hunk had found a game like bumper cars and were getting the entire team to play a round. Lance watched Keith’s face fall as he was dragged away bodily by Pidge, but it quickly went back to his normal unimpressed look. Lance attempted to distract him by pulling him into their normal friendly bickering as he grabbed some napkins from a nearby stand and handed them to Keith to wipe the hippo-spit off his face. “Really? Bumper cars, Pidge?”

“Yes, Lance! Well, not exactly bumper cars ‘cause there’s teams of people and the last team standing wins and you’re  _ actually supposed to hit the people _ , but the mechanics are the same.”

“Dude, that sounds amazing.  _ Actually supposed to hit the cars? _ YES!”

Lance looked over at Keith with a smile to find him looking confused and maybe a little apprehensive. “You okay there, Keith?”

“I, uhm, have never played bumper cars.”

Pidge stopped dragging Keith to turn around.  _ “Lies.” _

“I just, never really went anywhere that had them! And the one time your family took me and Shiro somewhere that had them there were a ton of things that were more interesting and it was after, uh, Mom and-”

“Oh, shit, sorry, Keith, I didn’t even think about that,” Pidge’s eyes widened, “you don’t have to play if you don’t want to.”

“No no no! I’ll be fine. We ran past it on our way to the petting zoo, didn’t we Lance? The cars were shaped like flying saucers not cars and I think that’ll make it different enough.”

“Yeah, they were UFOs. Seriously though, Keith, you sure?”

Keith’s eyes sent daggers at both Pidge and Lance. “I think I can handle myself and know my own limits, thank you very much.”

They continued walking in silence before Pidge asked “So, you two gonna team up? It’s teams of two.”

“Oh, you’re on, Pidge.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> next chapter probably coming tomorrow, I have to figure out the sizing for the picture and I'm using posting this as motivation to read East of Eden


	2. The Actual Title is a Spoiler

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> some fun after bumper cars

About two hours and countless rounds of bumper-UFOs later, Team Voltron poured out of the ride, laughing and bickering. “There is no way you beat us, Pidge, Keith and I are _the best._ ”

“Oh come on, Hunk and I _definitely_ had more wins than anyone else.”   
“I’ll give you Shiro and Allura-”

“Hey! We weren’t _that_ bad!”

“-but Keith knocked you out of the race in that last round _and_ the one before that and I got Hunk the round before that so we definitely beat you. Come on, Keith, back me up.”

Keith didn’t respond.

“Keith?” Lance turned around to look at Keith and found him shivering even under his parka, hands tucked up in his armpits, arms crossed, hood up, shoulders hunched, and head bowed, trying to conserve all the heat he could. “Oh fuck man, you okay?”

“F-fine,” Keith lied. He was in fact absolutely freezing. The Dorrolan winter was colder than anywhere he had been on Earth and especially cold for his used-to-the-desert Galran genes. His parka was not doing nearly as good a job as his armor’s life support would at keeping him warm. He didn’t want to worry the team though, today was supposed to be a day of celebration and relaxation and he’d just be a bother.

Keith sensed Shiro hovering over him and looked up. There went him not being a bother. “Mmmm, nope. Come on, you, Lance, and I are finding a warm place to sit while we eat. Pidge, Allura, can you help Hunk get food?”

The team nodded assent to their leader and split up. The food team drifted over to where the smell of carnival foods wafted from, while Shiro grabbed Keith’s hand and led the other three towards an open cafeteria-like tent. The moment they stepped inside Keith felt a rush of slightly-warmer air and relaxed slightly. Shiro tugged them over by one of the heating units and sat Keith down in front of it, then sat on one side of him while Lance sat on his other side. “Keith, I swear, while we’re on cold planets you have to tell us when you’re cold. I don’t want you getting hypothermia or something _again_ just because you won’t tell us. It doesn’t make you a liability or something, just means you have slightly different needs.”

“Sorry, Shiro,” Keith mumbled, leaning into Shiro’s warmth. Shiro sighed and wrapped his arms around him. Keith was pretty sure he made some motion to Lance because suddenly Lance was also wrapped around him. Keith tensed for a second and would’ve sent a glare up at Shiro had his present predicament not been really, really, warm and exactly what he needed. So he relaxed into it. Squished between his brother and his crush in front of a heating unit, whoop-de-do, exactly the confidence boost needed to confess, thank you Shiro.

Keith yelled at his internal sarcastic monologue for reminding him of all those facts and hoped he could chalk the red on his cheeks up to the (blessed) warmth of his predicament.

He was saved by Hunk, Pidge, and Allura appearing with food. They had plates of corn-dog-like meats which Hunk started wolfing down with a passion and Pidge kept making crude jokes with when Shiro wasn’t looking, fried cookies and donut-like things which Allura delicately popped in her mouth, a mountain of fries which tasted _so much_ like potatoes Lance could’ve sworn he was back on Earth, and piles upon piles of funnel cake which Keith and Shiro dug into.

_“Ay por dios, these fries are heaven.”_

Keith reached over and grabbed one off of Lance’s plate, popping it in his mouth. He stifled a moan as the rich flavor of potato smothered his tastebuds. “Oh my god, I didn’t realize how much I missed Earth food until right now.”

“Man, I wish the Dorrolans had ketchup,” Pidge spoke up, grabbing her own pile of fries, “Matt and I used to pour ketchup on everything and having _fries_ is making me crave it.”

“Princess, can you ask the High Priestess if she’ll give us some food supplies? I think we’d all love to have more of these fries.”

Hunk nodded his agreement and held a finger up while he swallowed a mouthful. “And see if we can get some recipes, these aren’t corn dogs but _holy crow_ are they delicious.”

Allura gave a small laugh. “I’m sure the High Priestess will be happy to get us some of this planet’s food. She’ll be honored that the Paladins of Voltron have taken such a liking.”

Lance gave a double fist pump of happiness as his mouth was too full of fries for any declarations. Keith smiled and ripped another bit of funnel cake and shoved it in his mouth as warmth made it into his heart. He loved his little family, and was eternally grateful for the circumstances that had brought them all together, despite the other consequences. Here he was, squished between two of his favorite people in the universe with three of the others sitting just across the table from him. All they were missing was Coran, who’d stayed on the castle to fix the particle barrier _(again)_ after the beating it had taken over the past month. Pidge and Hunk had been discussing upgrading it to better withstand damage and not draw as much energy the next bit of downtime they had, but this planet didn’t have the necessary supplies.

They laughed and talked as they ate, the Paladins telling Allura about everything that could be done with potatoes. After maybe an hour Hunk stood up and threw all the plates and bowls in the Dorrolans’ recycling chutes, then walked back to the table brushing his hands off. “Well, I wanted to go look at that petting zoo. Pidge, you comin’ with?”

Pidge swallowed her last bite of not-corn-dog and nodded. “Yep! I hear there’s some pretty cute birds over there.” The two of them waved to the others and sauntered off towards the petting zoo.

Shiro looked at Keith, looked at Allura, then looked back at Keith. “Well, I promised Allura that I’d take her on the ferris wheel, but if you-”  
“Shiro,” Keith cut him off, “I’m warmer now. I can take care of myself, seriously.”

Lance pulled Keith against him with a “Yeah! Don’t worry, Shiro, I got your little bro aaaaaaallllllll taken care of.”

Shiro sent his small smirk to Keith, who glared daggers at him. “Well, in that case, Allura?” He stood up and extended a hand to the Princess, who took it and followed him out towards the rides.

Keith was still smushed up against Lance’s side and he didn’t exactly want to move. “Do you wanna go play some of the carnival games?”

Keith resigned himself to sitting up, stretching his arms and back out after having been hunched over for a while. “Sure.”

The two of them wandered around for a while poking at the various carnival games. Lance won an interesting looking cup from one of the ping-pong like games, Keith got a pile of funnel cake from a game of chance that neither of them really understood, and they gathered up a few other small prizes.

“Hey, Lance, there’s a shooting game over there,” Keith pointed with one gloved hand. Lance turned and grinned, dragging him over to it. They waited in line and Keith inspected the prizes, just for the hell of it. His eye caught a _ginormus_ plush of a baby not-hippo sitting on the top of the set-up. “Grand Prize,” it declared. There was no way he was gonna be able to win that, but it looked really cuddly.....

Keith turned back to find Lance smirking at him and realized they were at the front of the line. “You wanna go, Keith?” He shook his head, hands cold and shaking, unlikely to be able to hit any of the targets. Lance stepped up and asked the Dorrolan “Anyone ever won that grand prize?”

The Dorrolan laughed. “Nope, you gotta hit all the targets, not miss a shot, and still be within the time limit to win that. No one’s ever done that.”

Keith watched Lance’s eyes widen, then narrow. He rolled his eyes and stifled an exasperated groan. Of course Lance would take that as a challenge. “Well, prepare to be amazed.”

Lance picked up the small water gun that served as the weapon and inspected it. He lifted it up into firing position and nodded at the Dorrolan, who hit a timer. Lance took a breath and shot one of the targets, then moved to hit another. Keith watched with steadily widening eyes as Lance hit the bullseye of every single target, never missing a single shot, steady and even with his breathing. He hit the last one and raised the water gun to rest position as Keith and every Dorrolan around them gaped at him.

“Well?”

The gamemaster Dorrolan silently reached up and gave the plush hippo to Lance. “My gods, Paladin. I had heard about the legendary sharpshooter who was the Blue Paladin, but to see you in action....”

Lance blushed and ducked his head, accepting the plush hippo. “Thank you?” He then immediately turned and stuck the hippo out to Keith. “Here, Keith.”

“Uhm, what?” Keith stopped shivering out of pure shock.

“I saw how you were looking at this just now and you looked really happy playing with those baby hippos earlier and, uh, I thought maybe.....you’d like this? Be almost like a baby hippo but you can snuggle it without it squishing you and uh.....”

Keith gently reached out to take the hippo. He really, really, _really_ , wanted to kiss Lance right now but they were in public and he had no idea if the Dorrolans didn’t approve of such behavior and he didn’t want to jeopardize their new alliance upon a billion other fears that had been drilled into him since he was born and the fact that _they weren’t even dating, come on Keith get it together_. He settled for a soft smile and a “Thank you, Lance,” which he hoped conveyed his feelings well enough.

Something must have gotten through because Lance blushed and rubbed the back of his head, mumbling a “You’re welcome.”

They stepped out of the way of the line, who were all staring at Lance in awe. After a moment of silence every single one was on the Blue Paladin, yelling at him about helping them learn how to shoot and what a great shot he was and a thousand other things and praises. Keith just pulled the hippo close to his chest and buried his uncontrollable smile in it.

After Lance’s little display the Dorrolans seemed to finally realize that the Paladins were in their midst. Keith and Lance were subjected to thousands of questions about Voltron and Earth and their experiences as Paladins and their weapons and innumerable other things. Keith started shivering again after maybe an hour of them standing by the shooting game’s tent answering what questions they could. Lance noticed his discomfort and somehow managed to get the Dorrolans to stop bombarding them. He pulled them away towards the rides, which as a result of the mechanics was a slightly warmer area. “You okay?”

“Y-yeah, just a li-ittle cold.”

Lance swept him up in a hug from behind. “Dude, you’re shivering like a leaf. Do you want to go back to the castle?”

Maybe a little. “N-no, I’m fine.”

Lance sighed and rested his head on Keith’s shoulder. If Keith could tense any more than he already was he would have. Slowly, he released a breath and leaned back into Lance. He made up the excuse that Lance was warm, which, well, _he was_ , but he knew that most of his reason was a very selfish need for Lance to hug him. They stood like that for a while, Keith snuggled back against Lance and Lance doing all he could to ease Keith’s shivering.

“Here, moving around would probably help. Wanna go on some of the rides? I bet the adrenaline will help too.”

Keith really didn’t want to leave Lance’s arms, but he supposed moving around would help. He nodded but didn’t move until Lance did.

They went on the zipper-like contraption, Keith clutching the hippo with one arm and Lance with the other. Then Keith convinced Lance to get on the spiny-teacups-on-steroids ride just to prove he could. Convincing Lance of that ended up with Keith agreeing to take a ride on the ferris wheel. So here they were stepping into the car of the definitely-not-a-ferris-wheel.

They were fairly quiet for the first few roundabouts of the wheel, Keith hunched over his hippo. The thing was surprisingly warm and while it wasn’t the same as having one of the other Paladins wrapped around him it seemed to be good enough for now. The view from up here was amazing. It had started snowing when the two were in line for the ferris wheel, sprinkling the ground with a light dusting of eerily blue snow. The lights of the city twinkled in the cold, Dorrolan’s two suns sending light through the air and bouncing off the snow, casting everything in a dull blue light. As the two suns neared the horizon the sky turned a deep purple dashed with blues, almost like the sky on Earth. Keith turned and looked at Lance, who was still staring out the window in awe. The blue light was shining in his eyes, making them even bluer than normal. His wind-whipped cheeks twinkled under the light and his fluffy parka was down, revealing his entire beautiful face.

Of course while Keith was enjoying the view the ferris wheel stopped abruptly, leaving the two of them stuck about as far up in the air as they could get. They jerked in their seats and Keith almost toppled forward into Lance before he righted himself.

“Is that supposed to happen?”

“I don’t think so,” Lance muttered, shifting so he could look down more. Two Dorrolans were muttering by the base of the wheel, looking through its innards. Lance pulled out his comm and called Pidge. “Hey, Pidge? Anyone know what happened to the ferris wheel? Keith and I are kinda stuck up here.”

“I think there’s some sort of electrical failure,” Pidge answered, “by the way, Shiro and I are standing right below you.”

Keith leaned over to see Pidge talking into her phone and Shiro waving up at them. He rolled his eyes but waved back.

“You should be safe up there ‘cause it’s not a mechanical failure, so you’re just gonna have to wait it out.”

Lance groaned and Keith sighed, smushing his face into the hippo again. “Alright, thanks, Pidge.”

He could hear a snicker from the other end before she hung up with a  “You’re welcome.”

“How does she know what’s wrong with the ferris wheel?” Keith asked, slightly suspicious. He would not put it past Pidge to mess with something just to get him stuck in a small space with Lance for a while.

“She’s Pidge. She knows everything, why wouldn’t she know what’s wrong with it after just a glance from a thousand meters away? She could’ve scanned it with her computer, anyway.”

“Yeah I guess.”

They sat in silence for a while, looking at the view and grumbling internally and, in Keith’s case, shivering again. He vowed the minute they got out of here he was going back to the castle to warm up.

There was a question bugging his mind though. “Hey, Lance?”  
“Hmm?” Lance turned from the view to look at him.

“Why’d you want me to come on the ferris wheel with you so badly?”

“It’s romantic.”

Both their eyes widened as they realized what Lance had said. Lance flushed red and started backtracking: “I-I mean, like, this is what they always do in movies, right? Go up on a ferris wheel and see the sights and uh, yeah. That was like, a joke, because we are definitely not dating like the people in movies always are and this really isn’t romantic in any way and.......Haha?”

Keith raised an eyebrow and somehow managed to keep his voice even, but he was flushed just as red as Lance, and not purely from the cold. “You’re doing a piss-poor job of passing this off as a joke.”

Lance looked at him for a moment then somehow turned even more red and buried his face in his hands. “Apóyame,” he mumbled into them, then took a deep breath and raised his head to look at Keith again. “Okay. It wasn’t a joke. I really wanted you to ride the ferris wheel with me because when you see couples on dates they always go to the photo booth and the ferris wheel and I haven’t seen a photo booth and I’ve always loved that trope of getting stuck on a ferris wheel and talking it out I mean my Mama proposed to my Mom on a ferris wheel and I totally did not plan this but it seems to have worked in my favour and....Keith, I really, really like you. _Like_ like you.” Lance lowered his head again as if he was afraid to look at Keith.

Keith blinked at Lance, hands around his hippo slackened and shivering stopped as he attempted to process, caught in a whirlwind of emotions. Lance liked him? Lance _liked_ him? Lance liked _him?_ He felt a giddy feeling swelling up and out from his heart, filling his brain and pushing out any doubts, pushing out the cold until all he felt was warmth. He broke out into a smile and gently placed the hippo next to him. “Lance,” he said, using a gloved hand to push his chin back up. His other hand drifted to the back of Lance’s head, pulling him forward slightly. “I really, really like you too.” He touched their foreheads together, drawing warmth from Lance and hoping that Lance felt his own warmth. Keith was fairly certain that they were both beet red at this point, but he honestly didn’t care. “Do you- do you wanna be my boyfriend?” Keith shakily breathed. Lance answered instantly with a dazzling grin as bright as the snow and a quick nod of his head, which bumped their noses together. He started giggling at that, and Keith soon joined in, both riding the high of finally, _finally,_ getting their feelings out into the air.

“Am I allowed to kiss my new boyfriend?” Lance asked, still grinning, their faces still close. Keith answered by tilting his head just enough for their lips to brush and pulling Lance just a little bit closer. Lance’s hands came up to wrap around him and press Keith against him.

That was of course when the ferris wheel started moving again. Lance was jerked back slightly and broke the kiss, Keith falling against him.“Didn’t know you needed me that badly, Keithy-cat,” Lance joked at Keith’s whine.

Keith chose to ignore his new nickname. “You’re warm,” he whined again.

“Oh man, you’re freezing. Let’s go back to the castle once we get out of here, okay?”

Keith mumbled an okay into Lance’s parka.

Once they got off the ferris wheel Keith started shivering again, harder than he had been all day. He tucked himself around the hippo, squishing it to his chest and trying to conserve as much heat as he could. Lance looked over at him and immediately grabbed one of his hands, pulling him against his side. Keith leaned into him, leeching what warmth he could. Lance stuck their joined hands in his pocket and smiled shyly at Keith. “This okay?”

Keith smiled at him. “Yep.”

They wandered over to where Shiro and Pidge were still standing. He saw Shiro look at their joined hands in Lance’s pocket, then between their faces, and then sent his small half-smirk in Keith’s direction. Keith just leaned even more into Lance and dared his brother to say something. When Shiro did indeed open his mouth he cut him off before he could speak. “You don’t get to say anything, Shiro, not after how long it took you to ask Adam.”

Shiro immediately snapped his mouth shut, while Pidge doubled over in laughter. Lance looked between them all before shrugging and leaning down to place a kiss on the top of Keith’s head. “Yeah, Shiro.”

“I wasn’t gonna say anything!”

“Mhmmm.”

“I wasn’t! I was just gonna ask you if you wanted to go back to the castle because you’re shivering like crazy again!”

“Yes, I totally believe you, Shiro.”

Pidge finally quieted her laughter and said “Okay, seriously though, Keith, back to the castle with you before you get hypothermia.”

Keith shrugged. “Are we all going back?”

“I’m fine with that, I’m kinda cold too,” Pidge said, pulling her comm out of her pocket, “I’ll ask Allura and Hunk where they are.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pidge _absolutely_ messed with the ferris wheel and convinced Shiro to cover for her somehow while she did it. She's the only one who knows that the pining thing is mutual because they both trust her enough with secrets to tell her.  
>  (She's not above a little well-intentioned meddling though)
> 
> The actual title I wanted to put was "Ferris Wheel Date Moment" bc tvtropes
> 
> next chapter uhhhhhhhh tuesday?


	3. Dance Metaphors

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oops I was gonna post this yesterday but U'm siiiiicckkkk I hate colds and I forgot
> 
> (I still haven't read any East of Eden hhhhh)

Keith snuggled up to Lance the entire ride back to the Castle. When they finally got back he breathed a sigh of relief at the warm air and relaxed, pushing his hood off for the first time since he’d put the parka on. 

“Alright, we have about a varga and a half before we need to get ready for the dance. All of you relax and warm up, alright?  _ Especially _ you, Keith, we don’t need to deal with hypothermia again.”

The Paladins nodded and dispersed. Keith only dimly noticed where everyone else went as Scarlet was purring at him. The rumble he could feel in his mind was happy, but with a distinct note of worry. She seemed to be calling to him, so he wandered away from the common room towards the big hangar the Lions were in. As he got closer he could hear her rumbling, vibrating the floors slightly. She raised her head as he walked in, the happy-worry purr louder. 

_ Cub. _

_ Hey, Scarlet.  _

_ You are cold. Come, I will keep you warm.  _

She raised her head and bumped him gently. He patted her nose, the only bit of her he could reach. The metal was warm, not uncomfortably like she was overheating, but like a parent’s embrace. He clambered over her to tuck himself between her front paws and her head and dozed off, warm and snug with his Lion and the plush hippo. 

Lance had wanted to follow Keith, but Shiro had quickly pulled him aside. “Lance.”

“Shiro, if you’re giving me a shovel talk-”

“No no no. Well, yes, I suppose but- Look, I trust you with Keith. You’ve managed to bring out a side of him I never thought I’d see. He’s happy and talking to more than just me and he has someone that emphasises when anxiety gets the best of him and you two are good for each other. I also trust you with the team and to be able to work together no matter what happens, we’ve been through enough for me to know that. It’s just-He’s my little brother, you know? I’m never going to  _ not _ worry about him, especially with all that’s happened since Mom died and I just. He’s been hurt before, even by me, so just, be careful with him?”

“Shiro, what happened wasn’t your fault. You can’t control getting captured by aliens, and he’s told me many times that he told you to take the Kerberos mission.”

Shiro looked pained. “Objectively I know that, but that doesn’t mean I can control how I feel about it.”

Lance stared up at the Black Paladin. He knew a little about being hurt, left in the dust by people he thought were friends. He knew missing people that he was unlikely to see again, he knew the pain of loss. But, at least he’d gotten to say goodbye. “I promise, Shiro. Swear on my abuela's grave. I’d do that even if you didn’t ask me to.”

Shiro pulled him into a hug. “Good. Now go find your boyfriend and warm him up.”

Lance laughed and squeezed Shiro back. He still felt giddy at the fact that  _ yes, Keith was his boyfriend. _ “Sir, yes, sir!”

Lance sauntered off in the direction Keith had gone with a playful salute to Shiro, who grinned and saluted back at him. He was pretty sure that Keith had gone either to his room or the Lions, and as the rooms were on the way to the hangar he might as well head there first. He tossed his parka in his room then knocked on Keith’s door. When he got no answer he tried again, then asked Azul:  _ Keith down in the hangar? _

Azul sent him a picture of Scarlet curled in a ball on her side.  _ I think he’s in there somewhere. _

Lance smiled and hurried down to the hangar. He gave Azul a pat on her flank and she gave him a nudge in Scarlet’s direction. “Okay! Okay! Point taken, go warm Keith up!” he laughed. 

Azul purred.  _ Go hug your boyfriend. _

Smiling Lance walked around Scarlet until he spotted a head of raven hair tucked against her front legs. Still in his parka and still holding the stuffed hippo, Keith was asleep leaning against his Lion.

“Hey, Scarlet, can I sit with him?”

One of Scarlet’s eyes started shining like she was lazily opening an eye.

_ Fine, just don’t wake my cub up before you need to leave or I will eat you, his feelings be damned. _

Lance huffed a soft laugh and made his way next to Keith. He pulled his comm out of his pocket and settled in next to Keith. Scarlet’s plating was warm, like she was using her environmental controls to warm Keith up. Lance just hoped that his added bit of warmth would warm his boyfriend up that much faster. Keith made a happy little noise and shifted, his head flopping on Lance’s shoulder. He smiled down at Keith and ran a hand through his hair. Keith  _ purred _ and snuggled closer in his sleep. Lance thought he might combust from the feelings running through him, distracting himself by playing some puzzle game Pidge had put on all their comms. He continued passing his hand through Keith’s hair, drawing out little purrs.

After a while Hunk appeared in his vision. “Lance!” he whispered.

“Yeah?”

“Allura said we need to get ready for the dance now. Oh and I didn’t get to say it earlier cause you were too busy trying to get Keith to stop shivering but, congrats!”

“Thanks,” Lance beamed.

Hunk looked over when Keith made a noise. “Oh. My. God. Is he purring? In his _sleep?_ _Like a cat?”_

Hunk was answered when Keith purred again. He let out a high-pitched noise that might have been a strangled squeal. “Does he do that all the time? How have we never heard that before?”

“Probably because he doesn’t sleep,” Lance answered, “You go get ready, I’ll wake Mr. Sleepy-head up and we’ll get ready.”

“Okay,” Hunk whispered, then backed away from Scarlet and out the door. 

Lance turned and poked Keith’s shoulder. “Hey, Keith, time to wake up.”

Keith grumbled into his shoulder, but blinked his eyes open. He seemed to take a second to process and lifted his head up, looking at Lance. “Hi.”

“Hi yourself. Come on, we need to get our formal stuff together.”

Keith groaned and buried his face in Lance’s shoulder again. “I don’t wanna go stand around on the cold planet again. Freezing.”

“We’ll be inside this time where they have heaters. Come on.” He tugged at Keith’s arm, trying to get him to stand up.

“Even that one building we were in was freezing through my parka. Allura’s not gonna let me wear my parka to the dance.”

Lance frowned down at the mullet on his shoulder. “Who say she isn’t?”

“Prior experience.”

“Keith, that was before the time you got hypothermia,” Lance huffed.

“It’s not formal enough.”

“It’s a jacket!”

“But not a formal jacket.”

Lance sighed, then brightened when he got an idea. “What if you wore your flightsuit under it?”

Keith considered that. “Alright, I’ll try that,” he said, pushing himself to his feet and then extending a hand for Lance. Lance took it and was hauled to his feet. He pecked his boyfriend on the forehead just because  _ he could do that now _ and then dragged Keith back to their rooms. 

Lance walked out of his room several minutes later, tugging on the cuffs of his jacket and straightening his vest out, muttering about how stupid ties were. He knocked on Keith’s door and called out “Hey, Keith, you ready?”

Keith’s door opened after a moment to reveal the man in question in his full formal regalia. Lane had seen him in his suit before, but every time Lance couldn’t believe how beautiful Keith looked. His black tuxedo was the perfect cut to show off his shoulders and chest, red vest just attention drawing enough to direct eyes up to his face. Lance noticed that Keith too was not wearing his tie. “Tie troubles?”

Keith stared deadpan at him. “I hate these things.”

Lance looked between the ties in their hands and grinned. He took his own tie and wrapped it under Keith’s collar, quickly knotting it. He then took Keith’s tie and slipped it into his collar, tieing it in a much sloppier way than Keith’s. Keith blinked at him, then looked back down at his tie. “Did you just-?”

“Yep!” Lance smiled, then kissed Keith’s forehead because apparently that was his favorite thing to do now. 

Keith was ducking his head and blushing furiously. “Thanks for the suggestion, by the way, it is warmer with my flightsuit.”

“See? Told you. And it’s not visible at all, so no reason for Allura to yell at you! She wouldn’t anyway, but, you know.”

Keith grabbed Lance’s hand and dragged him along to the bridge, where the team was waiting to go down to the party, still blushing furiously. Lance gleefully followed him. When they got there the team trooped down to the shuttle they used to get down from the castle and quickly arrived at the government hall which was hosting the dance. 

Keith was not expecting to have fun at the dance. A room full of people he didn’t know, expecting him to socialize and have fun, expecting him to dance and not leave before it was fashionable?  _ Not _ his idea of fun. Yet, this time wasn’t so bad. Lance hadn’t left his side the entire night, hadn’t gone over to the bar to flirt with some random alien, hadn’t allowed himself to be dragged into some crazy play-argument about the wonders of food goo, hadn’t started telling Earth fiction as fact (Pidge still kept yelling at Lance for that time he managed to convince an entire planet that Star Wars was the real history of Earth) or simply making stuff up. Lance had pulled him into the conversation over dinner, yet had left him alone when he really didn’t want in. Lance had leaned against the wall with him for the first few dances, surveying the room and talking to him, pulling him away from the anxiety he could feel buzzing under his skin from the close quarters and absurd amount of people. 

Of course Lance was also  _ insufferable _ and insisted that Keith do at least one dance. 

“Keeeeeiiithhhhhh, Keithy-cat, come on, one dance? Please? For me? I know you hate being out there but I really wanna dance with you. You can go back to leaning against the wall afterwards.”

Keith decided agreeing was worth it when Lance lit up with the bright smile he’d been displaying since their talk in the ferris-wheel. Keith wanted to be the source of that smile, make Lance display it every waking moment.

Lance grabbed his hand and weaved them through the mass of bodies to the dance floor just in time for a new song to start. He pulled Keith to him and started swaying, trying to lead him. Keith kept staring down at his feet; it’d been a while since they’d last been to a formal event like this one and he wasn’t sure he still remembered the dance. They stumbled over their own feet a lot, barely preventing themselves from falling a few times. Anxiety was creeping up on him again and he was starting to think this was a bad idea when Lance said, “Hey, Keith, stop staring at your feet, this’ll be easier if we aren’t both focusing on our feet. Muscle memory.”

Keith obligingly looked up at Lance’s face. There was a slight blush on his cheeks that Keith was sure his face mirrored. They stumbled less now, both of them back in the swing of things. Literally, as Lance swung Keith out in a spin and pulled him back, ending with them much closer together. “Hmmm, this is better, don’t you think?” Lance murmured, mouth entirely too close to Keith’s ear. It was indeed better, they were no longer missing a step at all, completely in sync and dancing almost flawlessly. Keith felt his anxiety slip away, all thoughts of how cold it was stop, as he focused solely on Lance and how they were moving. As the music crescendoed Lance dipped him, a satisfied smirk in his eyes and dazzling smile on his face. Keith could feel the mirrored smile on his own and the giddy happiness welling up inside him. Purple-grey stared into blue and blue stared back, both lost in each other in that moment.

[](https://www.flickr.com/photos/154019776@N08/36620192471/in/dateposted-public/)

Barely a moment after Lance pulled him up every Dorrolan in the room started clapping and whooping, jarring the two out of their little trance. Keith buried his flaming face in Lance’s shoulder, wishing a black hole would suddenly swallow him up. Lance moved the hand on his waist up to wrap around his shoulders, providing a security Keith desperately needed right then. 

“Bravo! Bravo! A simply  _ splendid _ demonstration from the Red and Blue Paladins!” The High Priestess called from somewhere behind Keith. “Princess Allura! You should have told me you had dancers of the highest caliber!”

Keith could _ feel  _ Lance blush at that. “I-I don’t know if we’re the  _ highest _ caliber, we stumbled a lot in the beginning and it’s been a while since we did this-”

“Ah, but that is part of what makes you such wonderful dancers! You easily recover from any problem, even through a rough start, and you turn it into something beautiful! You have passion behind your movements and it’s easily seeable by everyone in the room! Goddess Gayja will be pleased!”   
Keith really wished the High Priestess would shut up and was attempting to melt into the floor and take Lance with him. Somehow Lance managed to respond. “Thank you, High Priestess, it is our honor to please the Goddess.”

Allura seemed to apparate next to them. “Yes! Thank you for the honors, High Priestess. Is that all you require from them?”

“Oh, yes! Simply their dance was enough. It was better than any we have shown the Goddess in many solar cycles!”

Keith pulled away from Lance long enough to smile and bow to the High Priestess before Allura dragged them off to a corner.

“I’m. So. Sorry. I may have forgotten to mention that the Dorrolans take dancing  _ very _ seriously and their primary Goddess is the patron of it.”

“It’s fine, Allura, it’s fine, don’t sweat it. It was just, a little surprising?” Lance placated her. Keith nodded, still clinging to Lance’s arm. He was worried that now that they had been singled out as ‘the best dancers in solar cycles’ that every single Dorrolan in the room was going to mob them and his anxiety was  _ definitely  _ making itself known now. Lance seemed to realise this, probably because Keith was pretty sure his hand was cutting off Lance’s circulation, and started rubbing tiny circles on his hand with his thumb. It helped a little, but Keith was still tense and wishing to leave. 

Allura also seemed to notice. “Well, I  _ believe _ the point of this evening was to give the best dance for the Goddess and it seems the High Priestess has declared you two as the ‘winners,’ so I imagine we can leave soon. Just, sit tight, okay?” She flashed a smile and moved to find the rest of the Paladins and tell them they were getting ready to leave. 

As she moved away somewhere in the city a bell reverberated through the building. Every Dorrolan stopped what they were doing and raised their hands in the air, swaying their hips and humming. The High Priestess exclaimed: “Goddess Gayja has blessed us with warmth and may bounties this cycle! Oh praise ye, praise ye, Goddess!” The Paladins all watched as the Dorrolans worked themselves into a swaying mass of bodies, reaching a crescendo as the bell rung again. They all dropped their hands and bowed their heads at that, seemingly in worship. The High Priestess spoke again: “Oh Paladins of Voltron, we thank you for your offering to the Goddess. It has pleased her and brought us all we need for the next cycle.” She bowed in Lance and Keith’s direction; they bowed back. “The Goddess has asked us to join your alliance. We send you on your way with all the supplies your require and good fortune. We hope you will visit on our next Winter Festival!”

Allura stepped into the little opening in the middle of the room near the High Priestess. “We thank you for agreeing to join our Alliance. Every world helps in the battle against the Galran Empire. You have ours and the the alliance’s protection from anything that would threaten your world. We also thank you for the supplies and the invitation. Please, contact us when it next rolls around and we would be happy to come.”

With an exceedingly long series of bows the Paladins extracted themselves from the gathering and shuttled back to the Castle. Keith relaxed as soon as the wash of warm air in the Castle hit him. The Castle was safe and warm, no aliens mobing him to talk to him or ask him questions or embarrass him in some way. The Paladins and Allura were all exhausted, immediately heading towards their rooms after saying goodnight to Coran. Lance and Keith lagged in the back, holding hands and dragging their feet. They stopped in front of Keith’s door, not quite ready to seperate but not quite ready to enter one of their rooms together either. 

“Hey, Keith?”

“Yeah?” Keith turned to Lance and found him with a soft smile and something nameless in his eyes. 

“Can I kiss you goodnight?”

Keith blushed, but smiled and nodded a yes. He leaned up to meet Lance halfway. It wasn’t much more than a soft brush of their lips, just enough to sense the other’s body heat, but it lingered, too good to pull away. 

Finally coming up for air, Keith opened eyes he didn’t remember closing and stared into Lance’s. “See you tomorrow?”

“Yeah. Yeah, I’d like that. Wake me up for your morning training if you want and I’ll join you.”

They parted, each heading into his own room. Keith stripped his suit off and hung it in his closet and threw his flightsuit in his bathroom’s washer before pulling his shirt and pants on. He sat on his bed and stared at the wall for a little while. It had been one hell of a day. He apparently now had an entire planet-full of people who thought he was a good luck charm from their Goddess, he was still honestly cold, and most of all,  _ he had a boyfriend now. Lance _ was his  _ boyfriend now. _ Keith looked over at the plush hippo sitting on his bed, smiling. He grabbed it and buried his face in it before squealing like a little kid in sheer happiness. 

This was what he wanted, forever and ever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa that was the cheesiest thing I've ever written how did that come from my dark hell hole of a brain idk.
> 
> anyway that was the last thing i finished before school started and AP Lit and Linear Algebra decided to Fuck Me Over so productivity has gone wayyyyyyy down and also I have a cold and really just wanna sleep  
> who knows when the next thing will pop up


End file.
